July 2017 Brought New Child Support Calculation Guidelines to Illinois
St. Charles Divorce and Family Law Attorneys
In July of this past year, a new law went into effect in Illinois that significantly changed the manner in which family courts calculate obligations for child support. In the opinion of many people around the state, the new law has been long overdue, as they saw the previous calculation method as inherently one-sided and biased against the paying parent. Under the old law, child support obligations were based primarily on the income of the supporting parent. When it comes to family finances, today’s world is vastly different from the one that existed several decades ago, and very few households survive on a single income. This is especially true for families that have experienced a divorce.
The Outdated Method
When child support was ordered under the old system, the court would usually set the required payment as a fixed percentage of the paying parent’s income. The percentage was determined based on the number of minor children covered by the support order. A parent ordered to pay support for one child would normally pay 20 percent of her or her net income. The percentage increased to 28 percent for two children, 32 percent for three children, and so on, up to 50 percent for six or more children. The court used the paying parent’s net income so that allowances could be made for taxes and other specified deductions.
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